Total Wipeout axed by the BBC after six series

Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram's Saturday night entertainment programme has been axed after six years by the BBC, in order to free up cash for new entertainment shows. Contestants are flown to Buenos Aires in Argentina in order to tackle an obstacle course set on large pools of water or mud, with the winners completing the course in the fastest time and collecting a £10,000 prize. It takes serious athletic ability to compete but also sees the contestants making spectacular, slapstick falls. Mostly recently, the show had reinvented itself as Winter Wipeout and is still pulling in four million viewers per episode. The latest series ended last weekend with Eddie "The Eagle" winning a celebrity version. It will return for one final series this year. "After four very successful series of Total Wipeout, and one series of Winter Wipeout, the BBC has taken the decision that the next series will be the last," a BBC spokeswoman said.